tag: Microsemi

M&A
Microchip inked an agreement to acquire Microsemi, provider of chips for defense and aerospace, for $68.78 per share in cash. The acquisition price represents a total equity value of about $8.35 billion and a total enterprise value of about $10.15 billion, according to Microchip. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.
Silvaco acquired NanGate. Founded in 2004, ... » read more

Fab tools
Samsung Electronics has broken ground on a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography facility in Hwaseong, South Korea. The new EUV facility is expected to be completed within the second half of 2019 with production slated for 2020. The initial investment in the new EUV line is projected to reach $6 billion by 2020.
Imec and Cadence Design Systems have collaborated on the develop... » read more

The RISC-V instruction-set architecture, which started as a UC Berkeley project to improve energy efficiency, is gaining steam across the industry.
The RISC-V Foundation's member roster gives an indication who is behind this effort. Members include Google, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Rambus, Samsung, NXP, Micron, IBM, GlobalFoundries, UltraSoC, Siemens, among many others.
One of the key markets for... » read more

Some chipmakers, under pressure to add security to rapidly growing numbers of IoT devices, have rediscovered a "fingerprinting" technique used primarily as an anti-counterfeiting measure.
[getkc id="227" kc_name="Physically unclonable functions"] (PUFs) are used to assign a unique identification number based on inconsistencies in the speed with which current causes a series of logic gates to... » read more

Chipmakers
The IC industry continues to consolidate. For example, Qualcomm has a proposed plan to buy NXP. And then, Broadcom wants to buy Qualcomm. Who is next? In a research note, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves said: “According to Bloomberg, Microsemi is exploring a sale and we think logical acquirers could include Skyworks. We continue to view Microsemi as a notable strategic as... » read more

Chipmakers
Christopher Rolland, an analyst at Susquehanna International, expects to see more merger and acquisition activity in the IC industry heading into 2018. “M&A activity slowed in 2017, but the year is going out with a bang!” Rolland said in a recent research note. Towards the end of 2017, for example, Broadcom made a bid for Qualcomm, while Marvell announced intent to buy Cavium. ... » read more

Acquisitions
Marvell signed a definitive agreement to buy Cavium for roughly $6 billion. The deal is expected to close in mid-2018. The Cavium deal fits squarely on the cloud side and gives Marvell a much bigger reach into enterprise networking and infrastructure, as well as some developing markets.
Siemens paid an undisclosed price to buy Solido Design Automation, which tracks variation i... » read more

MEMS chips are being designed to go into the human body as biosensors, which will require unique packaging. And as demand grows for assisted and automated driving, MEMS devices also are finding new use cases in automotive electronics, their chief market segment prior to the millennium.
Pressure sensors, such as those that monitor the air pressure in tires, remain the biggest type of [getkc i... » read more

Hardware prototyping and [getkc id="30" kc_name="emulation"] have been two sides of the same coin ever since the [gettech id="31071" comment="FPGA"] became a commercial success. Early emulators were all built from FPGAs, and most were used in-circuit, much like prototypes are today. More recently, emulation has become a major piece of the [getkc id="10" kc_name="verification"] flow, to the poin... » read more

Fab tools
In a move to expand its product portfolio, Lam Research has acquired Coventor, a provider of simulation and modeling solutions for the semiconductor and MEMS industries.
Lam Research held an analyst event at the recent Flash Memory Summit. The topics included 3D NAND and other technologies. In a blog, here’s what executives from Lam said at the event.
Analysts from RBC Cap... » read more